Kudo is a seasoned 9-dan professional in his late 70s. Though not as well-known in the West as some other players, he’s posted good records throughout his career and was a contender for titles from the 1970s through the 1990s, including taking the Oza from Cho Chikun and the Tengen from Rin Kaiho. “He’s a very steady player,” says Redmond. “As a younger player he had an attacking style, and doesn’t bother so much about territory. Still what you might call a very thick player, he likes to build strong positions and doesn’t like to be under attack. He’s got a well-balanced game with a solid opening. And interestingly for a player of his age, he’s been integrating a lot of AI stuff too.” Redmond also discusses how he prepares for matches like these, although he warns viewers at the outset that “This is not a well-played game on my part, so you can probably learn more” from his opponent’s play.

The commentary was originally streamed live on Twitch, which gave viewers a chance to interact with Redmond and Garlock, who will be live-streaming more game commentaries in the weeks ahead on the AGA’s Twitch channel, which you can follow to get notified of live streams.

In this episode, Michael reviews his Oza tournament game with Ri Ishu 8P from Taiwan. This game, played in Tokyo, came after Redmond’s win against Otake, and was the final game in the Oza B section. “Ri Ishu is a very strong young player,” says Redmond. This game features some modern, post-AI joseki, “and then a fairly dangerous fight develops near the end of the game, so the game actually resembles AG-AG 35”

The commentary was originally streamed live on Twitch, which gave viewers a chance to interact with Redmond and Garlock, who will be live-streaming more game commentaries in the weeks ahead on the AGA’s Twitch channel. Follow the AGA’s Twitch channel and get notified of live streams.

Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock return to the AGA’s Twitch channel tonight at 7p EDT with their latest live game commentary on the AlphaGo vs AlphaGo series. ” Entertaining and enlightening review,” commented SpaceTimeMachine on the previous commentary. “I recommend this series to my friends all the time.”

The quadrennial Ing Pro Cup, originally planned to start in Shanghai this April and involving players from all over the world, has been temporarily suspended by the Ing Chang Ki Goe Educational Foundation because of the epidemic being caused by what health officials are calling a novel coronavirus. “The first phase of the event will be postponed, and the exact time will be announced after the epidemic is under control,” the foundation said in a communication to players and other attendees. The disease, which the foundation called “Wuhan pneumonia” after the Chinese metropolis where the epidemic originated, has infected more than 6,000 people and killed at least 132, according to media reports late Tuesday. While most of the victims are in China, 83 cases have been identified in other countries. Several countries have put travel limits in place and the US Centers for Disease Control has recommended avoiding non-essential travel to China. Canadian Ryan Li 1p is scheduled to represent North America in the tournament.

Each year Go players in Portland host a table teaching Go at Portland’s Mochitsuki festival, an annual Japanese and Japanese-American cultural festival and celebration of the Japanese New Year held at Portland State University. Several thousand people attended this year, and volunteers Neal Wright, Patrick Easley, Stewart Towle, Rick Steinfeldt, Olin Wexler, and Peter Freedman were busy all afternoon teaching new Go players of all ages, from 4 to 74.

Teachers at the table ran a Hikaru no Go anime to attract attention and provided Way To Go pamphlets, along with some Go Worlds, Go books, and of course information on Go locally and nationally. “It was a great day, I am hoarse,” reports Peter Freedman, and not for nothing. Their engagement and enthusiasm have gotten them invited to host a table at the Cherry Blossom Festival at Clark College in Vancouver this April by an impressed attendee of Motchitsuki Portland.

This is a story about the beginning of a new future for youth go players in Europe. The European Youth Go Yearbook 2019 with its only 140 pages covers the SEYGO Tour with in depth review of each of its five stages in Vatra Dornei, Jena, Zaostrog, Vienna and Lausanne during 2019, including interviews with the young talents and upcoming stars.

The chapter entitled Go Through the Eyes of Youth shows not just how the youth see go, but also what they feel about it. The book includes country reports from Romania, United Kingdom, Croatia, Germany, Ukraine, and France.

The European Youth Go Yearbook was written by Sinan Djepov 5d, who was the European U20 Youth Go Champion in 2018 and is also a creator of the ExploreBaduk project which will soon be re-launched with its new version.

In the recent Midwest Open, Ninghan Duan 6D of Florida took first place and was named Tournament Champion, while Eric Yoder 6D on Kentucky was second, and Meng Wang 5D of Michigan was third.

State winners

State Champions: Ohio: Soren Jaffe; Kentucky: Eric Yoder; Tennessee: Joe Kimbal. Alex Lillie was announced as the state champion at the event. However, after further review of the official rules posted one month prior to the event at gohio.org/state-championships it was found that Soren Jaffe is the winner. The issue arose due to the TD’s method of registration where he was not able to see the state of the people who registered at the door instead of online.

Perhaps the best evidence of time flying appears in an ad in the January issue of Go Review. A Deluxe Go set is offered for sale – Cherry bowls, 7.5mm Clamshell and Slate stones and a two inch thick Kaya board for the princely sum of $110, shipping from Japan included.

On January 15, Sekiyama Riichi, the first tournament Honinbo, passed away. He was the teacher of Kajiwara Takeo 9 dan

We will be seeing a lot of Ishida Yoshio in this series, as he begins his dominance in this period. But he still had time for fun, as shown in this striking photo. Below is a photo of the second game of the Nihon Kiin Championship against the champion, Ohira. This was the only game Ishida lost, securing the title 3-1 on January 20-21. Game records of the match here. Game 1; Game 2; Game 3; Game 4.

Here in the United States, Takao Matsuda 6 dan of New York, author of the famous Matsuda Go Letters, won the New Jersey Open, defeating Takahiko Ishikawa 5 dan of Philadelphia in an all-Japanese final. Ishikawa was a judo instructor, and was the All Japan Judo Champion two years in a row.

League matches started with the New Year. Pictured at right is Kajiwara Takeo taking black against Fujisawa Hosai 9 dan in the Meijin league on January 21st. Perhaps you can see Kajiwara’s first move, on tengen. An expert on the fuseki, Kajiwara played the move to offset Hosai’s penchant for mirror go. Did it work? Find out in the game record here.

Finally, just to show that we have not come that far, a go computer was demonstrated by Toshio Ikeda of Fujitsu. The computerized board, 2 meters square, could solve “any problem given to it” but could not play a full game. A steal at $30,000 dollars. The article concludes “one day we may yet have a computer become a pro!” Pictured next to Ikeda is Go Seigen. Ikeda was an avid go player and rule expert, his “On the Rules of Go” was published posthumously by Fujitsu in 1992. Here’s a game between Ikeda and Go Seigen.

photos courtesy of Go Review, Igo Club and GoBase.org, game records courtesy of SmartGo/GoGod

The San Diego Go Club has expanded its go educational program to include the Sejong School which teaches Korean language, Korean culture, math, coding and Baduk (Go) on Saturdays and Sundays. Three members of the SDGC – Arunas Rudvalis, Les Lanphear III, and Ted Terpstra – have regularly taught Go at the school on Saturday afternoons since last summer. The American Go Foundation has provided some equipment to the Sejong School through its schools’ program providing free classroom starter sets.

The winter session just ended with an in-house Go tournament for the students. A few of the students also played in the 2019 California State Go Championship in December. By next year, hopefully, many more students will be playing in San Diego Go tournaments.

Michael Redmond 9P and Chris Garlock return with their latest AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo game commentary, Game 35 of the series, posted on the AGA’s YouTube Channel.

The game features “A lot of intense fighting in the center of the board that sort of spreads to the corners,” says Redmond. Plus, “We’ll see some ko’s, as well as some ko’s that didn’t happen.”

The commentary was originally streamed live on Twitch, which gave viewers a chance to interact with Redmond and Garlock, who will be live-streaming more game commentaries — some AlphaGo vs. AlphaGo and some of Redmond’s games — on January 30 on the AGA’s Twitch channel. Follow the AGA’s Twitch channel and get notified of live streams.